Tales From Across The Ocean
by XEspmasterX
Summary: Immediately following the events of Pokemon Sun and Moon, Lillie and Lusamine travel to Kanto, Lillie to become a Pokemon trainer, and Lusamine to help recover from recent events. However, it's not long into their journey that things go completely off the rails for them and the whole region. (Note: I have rebooted this series, see my profile for the new version.)
1. Chapter 1

Three things to note before we get started with the story:

1\. For the purposes of this fanfic, "Green" is the male and "Blue" is the female.

2\. This fic contains some mild swearing, but nothing worse than you'd see in a rated-PG movie.

3\. I kind of assume that the reader has already played the original Pokemon Sun and Moon. Spoilers abound for that game, and I give very little exposition about what happened then.

* * *

 **Pokemon Civilization, Book 1: Tales From Across The Ocean**

 **Part 1: The Science Of Spirit**

 **Chapter 1**

She looked across the sea, stretching across as far as the eye could see. What was it like at the bottom of the sea, she wondered? Would she ever get to there on her journey? So lost was she in thought, that she barely noticed that the boat lurched and sent the book she was reading flying onto the floor.

"Are you done reading, dear?" a voice said.

Lillie blinked her eyes, trying to understand what she just heard. Then she saw that _History Of The Entire World A.C.E._ was on the floor and jumped, hurrying to pick it up.

Lusamine, who was sitting on the other end of the wooden table, giggled. "You've always been a good reader. Why don't you tell me about what that book's about?"

"Um…" Lillie knew that her mother was was trying to distract her from her nervousness, but she had dozed off quite a while ago and didn't like being put on the spot so suddenly. "I only read a bit.. It started out with when humans first came out of the bunkers and met mew, the genetic ancestor of all pokemon, and the mew helped them rebuild their society and clean up the nuclear waste. Mother, I know so little about Kanto, how am I going to do this?

Lillie's thoughts were interrupted when she heard what sounded like a stampede out in the hallway.

"What's going on out there?" Lillie asked, understandably startled by the noise.

"I… have no idea," Lusamine answered. "Let's go find out." She started walking over to the door of their room, but before she could get there, she lost her balance and stumbled a bit.

"Mom!" Lillie exclaimed, running over to catch her. "You need to be careful! You know that you haven't been quite right since what happened in the wormhole!"

"I know.. I know," Lusamine said, getting back on her feet. "I better watch my step on the way to Bill's place."

Suddenly, a lightbulb lit up in Lillie's head. _Bill… Bill… Bill…_ "Bill Salchicha?"

Lusamine blinked in surprise. "What?"

"Bill W. Salchicha," Lillie explained, "the author of _History Of The Entire World A.C.E._ Do you think it's the same guy?"

"Um… no," Lusamine said. "The Bill we're seeing is younger. He's not a historian, he's more of a science guy."

"Oh," was all Lillie could say, so Lusamine opened up the door, and they beheld a hallway crowded with people trying to get to the door at the end of the hallway.

"Land ho!" cried an old sailor, swaggering past their door, when suddenly he eyed the mother and daughter and the Poke Balls in their bags. "Hey! I like feisty kids like you!" he said.

Lillie, taken off guard, reached for her Poke Ball and looked inside. _All I have is this vulpix that Professor Oak gave me,_ she thought. _And I've never used it in battle before now._

Luckily for her, Lusamine stepped in; though she was still weak from her time in Ultra Space, she made her best attempt and her previous commanding composure. "She's a brand new trainer; it wouldn't be a fair match-up against an experienced sea dog such as you," she pointed out. "But if you're just raring to go, I can be your opponent."

The old man laughed! "I like your spirit, sweet thing! You're on! Machoke, go!"

He flung his Poke Ball and out came the hulking blue man itself.

"Say Mom," Lille said, grinning, "that Pokemon kind of looks like Professor Kukui, but with even less clothes!"

Lusamine burst out laughing. "Lillie! That is actually pretty funny! Sun is rubbing off on you. Alright, stand back. Go, Clefable!"

Lillie moved back automatically while continuing to grin. She had never had someone laugh at something she said before- it was an odd feeling, but a good one. It was especially odd to see her mother reacting this way, when she so rarely had humourous impulses.

By the time she had processed this, the battle was over; Machoke had been blasted backwards in the front wall, smashing the lamp on the bedside table. Lusamine's clefable posed proudly.

"My sincere apologies!" Lusamine exclaimed, as the old sailor simply laughed. "I'll pay for the damages."

"Don't worry about it!" he said. "It happens all the time, that's why we put those el cheapo lamps in the rooms!"

"Lillie," Lusamine said suddenly, turning to Lillie. "I hope you didn't have any possessions in there…"

"I'm good," said Lillie. "I already put everything up into my bag."

"I'll tell you what," said the sailor, as both he and Lusamine returned their Pokemon. "If you have a mother with that kind of strength, you're bound to be something special!"

"Oh, don't say that," muttered Lillie, as the sailor laughed, and her mother, managing to smile, led them both out the door..

So Lusamine and Lillie made their way through the crowd, dodging families and chatty old people.

"I've never seen so many people in my life!" said Lillie, feeling a bit overwhelmed.

"It'll be okay," said Lusamine. "Just stay near me!"

"Say, mom," said Lillie questioningly, "are the people here kind of strange?"

"Oh, I suppose so," said Lusamine absentmindedly. "Say, who did you say we were meeting here again?" she said as they awkwardly had to walk on either side of an old couple who were in deep conversation.

"Oh," said Lillie as they shoved their way through the door to the outside, "we're meeting a lady who works for Professor Oak's cousin. She has long brown hair, and usually wears a skirt and a white hat."

"Oh, what the hell is this?" Lusamine said suddenly, looking annoyed.

Startled, Lillie strained to see what Lusamine was looking at; she saw a huge crowd of people on the dock yelling and waving signs.

"Do you see any brown haired women?" Lillie asked.

"Not yet.. But get a load of this! They're saying to people getting off the boat, 'If you're riding on the S.S. Anne, you the support the disruption of aquatic wildlife.' As someone who was the head of a major environmental organization, I can attest that merely driving a boat over the surface of the water does not disrupt wildlife in any significant way!"

"Well, please mother," responded Lillie, worried about her mother over-exerting herself. "Don't start a scene!"

However, at that moment, Lillie saw someone pushing their way through the crowd. She heard someone in the crowd say, "Move out of my way! They're with me!"

And from the crowd emerged a woman who, as Lillie described, wore a white hat with a red arc on it, and had long brown hair. However, she was wearing a dress around her wide hips, with a white top and blue poke-ball pattern bottom.

"You two must be the ones sent by Samson Oak," she said, looking peeved about something. "Come on, let's get out of this crowd, then we'll make proper introductions."

"Good idea, my mom's gonna blow a gasket soon!" said Lillie, noting her mother's furious expression at being accused of 'harassment.'

So they followed her through the crowd. They got many funny looks, which made Lillie wish she could jump into the water and swim away. But the crowd oddly seemed to part for them. Finally, they reached the end of the dock and stepped onto land. They appeared to be at the edge of town: Lillie could see some tall grass and a cave entrance to her right.

"Anyways…" the brunette lady said, stopping suddenly and turning around. She seemed to be trying to regain her composure. "My name is Blue, and you've taken your first step into Kanto!"

"Hi," said Lillie, "my name is Lillie!"

"Yes, I figured," Blue said, putting her hands to her hips. "You match the description the Professor gave me. And this is your.. Err, older sister?"

"You're very sweet," Lusamine said, smirking. "I'm Lusamine, Lillie's mother.

"Oh!" said Blue, looking surprised. "Lusamine Aether? I've heard of you, but I didn't imagine you being so young."

"Hardly," Lusamine replied. "I'm over 40."

"Wow!" said Blue, looking even more surprised. "I hope I look like that when I'm 40! Anyways, both of you, welcome to Vermillion City and to the Kanto region! We'd better get out of the sun- I'll take you to where we're staying the night."

So they set off through the city. It was an unusual city- there were a lot of hotels and restaurants dispersed among what looked like normal houses.

"You guys came from Alola, right?" asked Blue. "You probably passed my husband and our long time friend halfway there. They're going to Alola to celebrate the creation of Alola's Pokemon League."

"And they left you behind?" Lusamine inquired.

"Well… yeah," Blue said. "I know there's a lot of people who would've loved to see me there, but I had some business to take care of here. Anyways, my husband, his name is..."

Lillie only passively listened to their conversation, as she was curious about the city. There were all sorts of places that inspired her imagination; elaborate houses along the shore, and inns and hotels with big signs out in front.

"Where are we going to stay?" Asked Lillie suddenly, eyeing a tourist-y hotel right next to a water park.

"I'm taking you to the Vermillion City Tourist Bureau," Blue replied. "It's across the road from the Pokemon Center. It took forever to get that thing built; but that old man did it eventually. And then, right afterwards, he died."

"Oh," said Lillie. "At least he accomplished his life's dream."

"Yeah… sorry for being morbid," Blue explained as they passed by a building with a sign that read "Pokemon Gym." "It's been a long day."

"I can imagine why," said Lusamine sympathetically. "What was with that crowd at the harbor? Nothing they said made any sense to me."

"Ah, I should explain," Blue began. "Now isn't the greatest time to make a trip to Kanto. In the past few years, we've had a lot of growth in business. However, some corporations have been doing things that are… well, a little bit ethically questionable. Like using rivers as a place to dispose of chemicals, and disrupting wild Pokemon."

"Yes, I've heard about some of the issues here in Kanto," Lusamine replied. "But what does that have to do with the S.S. Anne?"

"I'm getting there," Blue said, directing them through a crowded market area which reminded Lillie of Konikoni City. "So, naturally Red, Green and I were kind of bothered by this, so we've been trying to do what we can. Green tried to use his power as gym leader to get the League to do something about it. But they didn't want to hear it- they didn't want to do anything that might disrupt our economic prosperity. So we're now organizing rallies to help raise awareness."

"So, is that what the people were there for?" Lusamine asked.

"No!" exclaimed Blue, stopping suddenly in front of a blue building. "They are just people with too much time on their hands. The Vermillion Harbor hasn't done anything wrong that I know of."

Lillie couldn't help but to laugh. "So, there's all this actual work being done, and these people are just trying to cause trouble?"

"Essentially," Blue replied. "And THAT'S why I've been pissy today. Anyways, while I was babbling on, we arrived at the Bureau."

Not having realized that, Lillie looked up at the building. It had a sort of faux-"old sea shack" feel; there was a carved wooden sign hanging above the door. It was a nice aesthetic, Lillie thought.

* * *

After moving in, Lillie agreed to go with Blue as the sun was setting to begin her training. Other than being their tour guide on the way to Bill's, Blue specifically was sent to help Lillie take her first steps to being a trainer. Lusamine stayed behind in their room to rest.

Lillie was nervous as they walked out onto Route 6. "So we're supposed to wander around in tall grass until we're attacked by wild pokemon, and then then we beat them up?"

"Yeah, that's right!" said Blue, as if this was the most normal thing in the world. "Us trainers called it 'grinding.' It's like eating your vegetables; it may not always be fun, but if you don't do it, your Pokemon won't grow up to be big and strong."

"But what if I beat every single pokemon on the route, and then try and find more, but nobody comes?" asked Lillie, who was picturing walking through a completely empty and lifeless route after having slaughtered everything in her path.

"I guarantee you, that will never happen," said Blue, shaking her head. "Pokemon bounce back from battles way easier than humans do. If you beat a wild spearow, it'll flee and probably be fit as a fiddle after like 30 minutes of rest. So trust me, you will never beat so many wild pokemon so that nobody will come, nor will you even beat enough to have a noticeable impact on the ecosystem."

As implausible as this sounded, it did match up from what Lillie observed from her time with Sun and Moon in Alola; the wild pokemon didn't seem affected no matter how much they battled. Also, Blue clearly had experience with this and seemed generally sympathetic to wildlife, so she didn't ask any more questions.

"I have pokemon on me, so if you get overwhelmed I can come in and back you up," Blue explained. "Don't feel the need to go sprinting away; that's an easy way to lose a lot of money."

Lillie made sure that the pouch her money was in was secured in her bag, and then pulled out her vulpix.

"What Pokemon did you get?" asked Blue, but as she came closer she stopped and gasped at it. "No way? Where'd you get that vulpix?"

"Um… from Professor Oak."

"But it's _white!_ "

"It's a regional variation," explained Lillie. "All the vulpix in Alola look like this."

"Well well well, that's very interesting!" said Blue, who started pacing back and forth and chewing on her lip. "Vulpix are usually _red_ … and May swore she once saw one that was _yellow_ … but now I've found one that is _white_ … what a _privilege_ to get to see something like that without leaving Kanto! And it's because… they evolve differently… hmmm…."

"When will my training begin?" said Lillie, who had noticed that the sun was now behind the trees.

Blue suddenly made a 180-degree turn. "Calm your t- I mean, uh, give me a minute, I need to do something real quick." She reached into her bag and pulled out a pokedex, flipping it open and pressing buttons furiously. "This'll only take a minute… I wish I had one of those Rotom pokedexes so I didn't have to type so much, it hurts my fingers."

"Oh, you know about the RotomDex?" asked Lillie.

"Yeah, I heard about it through word of mouth. That Professor Kukui… he's quite a character, isn't he?"

"Yeah, you can say that again," said Lillie. "I had the experience of staying in his lab for a few weeks. He kept on breaking things around the house because he got too excited with his rockruff, and he went around shirtless constantly."

"Oh.. I bet you enjoyed that," said Blue mischievously as she finished typing and put her pokedex away.

"No, I didn't, actually, at all," replied Lillie, who had been frequently put off by Professor Kukui's style of dress.

"Ah.. Didn't mean to make assumptions," Blue said, as if she was surprised at herself. "I've been spending too much time around… Anyways, let's go ahead and get started. Go ahead and prepare your vulpix."

"I'm ready," said Lillie, who had been holding her vulpix in her hand for the past few minutes. She creeped towards the tall grass cautiously… what she was doing felt insane, it went against who she had been for most of her life, but knowing that she had backup if things went wrong, she stepped in.

It wasn't long before a pokemon appeared in front of her- she recognized it as a pidgey. While pidgey didn't look scary at all back when Sun and Moon were plowing through them with impunity, now it looked remarkably menacing to her.

"Don't hesitate! Meet them head on with your own pokemon!" Blue shouted encouragingly from outside of the tall grass.

So Lillie sent Vulpix into the fray. Vulpix shook a bit to get used to being out of his ball.

Lillie had no idea what moves he knew, so she said, "um… show me what you got!"

Even weirder than giving it a command was seeing it carried out: Vulpix wound himself up and shot from his tails and mouth a flurry of snow, battering the Pidgey.

"Wow! It's an ice type! That's about as different as you can get from normal vulpix!" Blue said, reaching back for her pokedex to update her entry.

But the pidgey was not out; it sprung back its feet and charged Vulpix, knocking him backwards.

Lillie was horrified at the sight of her vulpix crumpled up on the ground; _he got hurt,_ she thought. _I can't believe I did this to him…_

But while she was thinking that, her vulpix suddenly got back to his feet and let loose another flurry of snow, this one much more powerful; the pidgey flew backwards and landed in the dirt face-first before quickly hopping away.

"As my husband would say… you knocked it out _cold!_ " said Blue, who was beaming at Lillie's success.

Lillie kneeled down and scratched her vulpix under his chin; he purred happily. "That was quite something for your first fight, little fellow- how'd you do it?"

"Lillie! Hostile at 12 o'clock!" shouted Blue, jolting Lillie back to her senses. She sprang back up and looked left and right before realizing the Pokemon was floating right in front of her; it was a magnemite.

"That's magnemite," Blue said. "It's part steel, so Vulpix's ice attacks won't be very effective!"

"Oh no!" said Lillie, now biting her own lip. "Maybe we should just try and scare it away?"

Her vulpix, seeming to understand, let out a high pitched roar, and to Lillie's surprise, the magnemite seemed intimidated and backed off.

"That… was actually a pretty smart move," Blue remarked. "Here, come out of grass for a minute, I wanna show you something real quick."

Lillie returned Vulpix to his poke ball and walked back towards Blue, a spring in her step due to her unexpected success.

"That's quite the remarkable pokemon you have there!" Blue remarked as Lillie exited the tall grass. "Bad luck running into a magnemite out here… They didn't used to even live in this area, I don't know where they started coming from… Oh, what is it now?" She said, suddenly turning around.

Lillie observed another woman in sporty red jacket and booty shorts running at them from the city, who had been calling Blue's name. She look worried.

"Hey! I remember you!" Blue said as the woman stopped in front of them. "You gave me my Vs. Seeker back when I was first starting my adventure!"

"Blue! You have to help us!" said the woman, who was so worried about whatever it was that she ignored Blue's icebreakers. "The mob who was around the harbor earlier is attacking the gym!"

"What?" cried Blue, her eyes wide with surprise. "What do you mean 'attacking?'"

"They have their Pokemon out and they're trying to break down the door!"

"Oh my GOSH!" Blue yelled. "Come on Lillie, let's get down there before someone gets hurt!"

"Oh.. okay," said Lillie, who was surprised that Blue was taking her with rather than ordering her back to the hotel room.

"I'm not worried about the gym trainers, " Blue explained, as the two took off at a brisk jog back into the city. "I'm worried about the mob! If they piss of the lieutenant… they're gonna have a bad time."

"Who's 'the lieutenant'?" Lillie asked, surprised to hear that something like a gym would have military personnel.

"Lieutenant Surge, the gym leader of Vermillion City," Blue explained, as they tore across the streets; now that the sun was down, it was far easier to get across the previously-crowded city. "He fought in the Civil War between Kanto and Johto that broke out a decade back. He calls himself 'The Lightning American' because he has a distant ancestor who was a war hero in ancient America! What was his name again? Gus? Granite? Grabel? I don't know, something with g."

"I'm not… sure…" said Lillie, panting to keep up, and also impressed that Blue could explain all of that while running.

"Here we are!" said Blue, skidding to a sudden halt.

Lillie saw it: the mob from earlier was crowding the area between the gym and the shore. But now, they weren't just yelling and waving signs; some of them had pokemon out in fighting stances. She recognized a machop and a skarmory, and an odd pink Pokemon which looked like a big slowpoke but with its tail being eaten by a shellder, but there were a few others that she didn't recognize at all, including a white, energetic ape-like pokemon with a red nose and plume.

And to her amazement, Blue, without batting an eye, walked right out in front of the angry crowd and began to speak.

"I have crisscrossed the region to talk to activists, politicians, business leaders, famous figures, and ordinary citizens, out of concern for the short-sighted approach the people of this great region have taken in regards to industrialism. But you, you care not about bringing glory to our cause; you only want glory for yourselves. You only want to feel as if you are powerful. But you have no power; you are a disgrace to those who care about this region and equality!"

 _Rest in peace,_ Lillie thought to herself, amazed at how harsh and cold Blue had suddenly become. She also noticed something odd; Blue looked as if she was talking to the ocean behind them rather than to the crowd. She wasn't meeting anybody's eyes.

"How could you say the things that you do!" cried a male voice from the crowd.

"You're a traitor for getting in our way!" cried a female one.

"You may think that you're so amazing, because you turn off your AC at night, or because you light your house with open windows instead of lights," Blue said. "So why are you angry with me? I've broken my back for this cause!"

Suddenly, an alarm bell went off in Lillie's head; the trainer of the machop seemed to be whispering commands to it, and the machop took off right in Blue's direction!

Lillie threw out her poke ball, and Vulpix popped out. "Stop that machop!" Vulpix did something Lillie hadn't seen it do; it created huge chunks of ice and threw them at Machop at high speed. The machop was knocked back into its trainer, leaving both on the ground.

Blue turned to Lillie, surprise on her face; Lillie saw that she had a poke ball in her hand ready to deploy. "That was great, kiddo!"

Suddenly, the doors of the gym slid open, and out came a hulking man with a blonde buzz-cut.

"HEY, ME AND THE BOYS WOULD LIKE TO GO HOME, IF YOU'D BE SO KIND AS TO CLEAR A PATH!" He shouted in a hoarse voice. For whatever reason, the crowd listened to him and began filing out of the area, the few trainers who had their pokemon out returning them.

He turned to Blue, as an odd assortment of musicians, mechanics, and well-dressed men with briefcases lounged out of the gym, talking amongst themselves. "This your crowd?" He asked to Blue.

"Don't insult me," she replied cooly.

The man, who Lillie could only assume was Lieutenant Surge himself, laughed a hearty laugh. "Thanks for helping out; these damn environmentalists have been nothing but trouble for our region!"

He swaggered off to join his gym cronies, but Blue simply stood there in the same spot.

"You did an awesome job!" Lillie said to her vulpix, returning him to his poke ball. She then walked up beside Blue; Blue was simply standing there with a blank expression, staring into the ocean.

"That was really brave of you," said Lillie, trying to break the tensed silence. "I don't think I could ever talk in front of a crowd of people like that!"

"It's not any more fun for me," Blue replied. "I can't bear to look into anyone's eyes; I'm worried that I'll see the face of some old friend, someone I trusted. Come on Lillie," she said, turning suddenly, her voice sounding close to breaking. "Let's head back to our room; I just kind of want to curl in under the covers and forget any of this ever happened today."

Lillie followed after her, privately thinking to herself that she had never seen so many different sides of the same person in one day.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

"At around 11 yesterday, during a rally in Pewter City, the gym leader Blaine had his speech interrupted by members of the crowd, who threatened to bring an end to his event if he didn't let them speak." A video clip played of Blaine, a bald old man with glasses, a white moustache, and a determined face, being chewed out by two women who had climbed onto his stage. At first, he tried to fight them off, saying, "I'm trying to reasonable here!" But he eventually gave up and let the women say what they wanted to.

Lusamine shook her head. "Why does it sometimes seem as if all kids want to do today is cause trouble for nothing?"

Lillie, slightly uncomfortable at that remark given recent events, looked back in the direction of the door to Blue's room. _She has to be awake soon,_ she thought. _It's almost nine._

Tired of watching the news, Lillie got off of the couch; though she didn't exactly have a lot of other places to go. The room kept the same aesthetic as the exterior of the bureau; it was all a natural-looking wood. The bright green couch and the windows near the top letting light in made it feel like a treehouse; albeit, a treehouse with a TV in it. She decided to go back into the room that she and her mother shared to pretend to finish packing, even though she had been packed for the past hour.

Taking her things out of her bag to organize them needlessly, Lillie wondered why the people of Kanto had such a hard time with the whole debacle. It seemed so simple at the Aether Foundation; almost like a paradise. (Until Lusamine started getting involved with ultra beasts, of course.) So it was odd to think that, without that infrastructure already in place, preserving wildlife could be such a challenge. She also wasn't even sure what the infighting among the environmentalists was about; _did they not have the same goals? Was the crowd yesterday really just rioting because they were bored (literally) out of their minds, or is there something missing here?_

As she continued to ponder along these lines, sleeping beauty emerged from her room.

"Good morning, you two!" Lillie heard Blue say. Lillie headed back into the living area with her bag. Blue was dressed more casually today; she was wearing a simple blue shirt with a red skirt. "Are you ready to hit the road?"

"Don't you want to eat breakfast?" Lusamine asked; she and Lillie had eaten a while ago.

"I got stuff to eat in my bag!" Blue said, motioning to the light brown bag over her shoulder and patting it for effect. However, this caused a Pecha Berry to fall through a small rip in the bottom. "Ah, dammit," she said, bending over to pick it up. "I should probably get a new bag sometime- this one's getting up there age-wise." This prompted Lillie to look down at her own bag, wondering if Nebby's antics had made any holes.

"I'm ready when you are, then," said Lusamine, getting up from the couch and stretching gracefully.

Blue pressed the button to turn off the TV and grabbed her hat from the hat rack. "Let's head out!"

"What's the road map for today?" asked Lusamine, as the three filed out the door into the hallway.

"We should be able to make it to the north end of Saffron City today," Blue explained, closing the door behind them. "If we can make it there, I have a place to stay with my grandparents."

And so, the trio set off north, to Saffron City. Blue, who felt bad that Lillie's training had been cut so short and left so basic, took a few side paths so that Lillie and Vulpix could get more experience. So the duo battled through, not only more pidgey and magnemite, but also a weird root with a big yellow head named bellsprout, a few abra who usually teleported away before Vulpix could finish them, the Kantan version of meowth, which was white and decidedly less smug-looking, and even, once, a small, pink, and noisy pokémon, which Blue identified as whismur, which had migrated to Kanto from the Hoenn region. Blue also helped identify the moves that Vulpix knew so that Lillie could give specific commands. The attacks that he had used the day before were powder snow, roar, and ice shard, and on the way there, Vulpix also revealed himself to know some more strategic moves; namely tail whip, baby-doll eyes and eventually confuse ray. On top of all of this, whenever Vulpix grew tired, they would take a break and Blue would help heal it with a seemingly endless supply of healing items from her bag. _No wonder that thing is falling apart,_ Lillie thought. _I can't imagine how much is stuffed in there!_

Lusamine did not have much to add amongst all of this. She was mostly expressionless, and only made comments to give the infrequent suggestion about strategy or what move was what. Lillie reflected that, given her sheltered upbringing, it must have been very weird for Lusamine to witness Lillie becoming a trainer. Heck, it was weird enough for Lillie herself to see it! She thought that it should've given her a feeling of vindication, but instead the experience made Lillie feel irrationally anxious; about what, she was not sure.

It was when Saffron City was finally in view, mid-afternoon, when a couple of bizarre things happened in a row.

Lillie and Vulpix were battling pidgey #200 (or so it felt), when Vulpix let loose a noticeably stronger and more active flurry of wind than usual, knocking pidgey out in one hit.

"Wow! That was something different!" Blue said, with wide eyes. She got out her Pokedex and started writing in it, but Lillie wasn't sure why.

"Are you sure?" replied Lillie. "It looked almost like just a particularly strong powder snow."

"Nah, that had to be icy wind, which is a step up," Blue said, still typing away. "I'm curious as to how that pokémon is learning new moves so quickly." Then, suddenly she stopped for a second. "Don't tell me that yesterday evening was its first time out of the poke ball?"

"No, it wasn't," said Lillie. "I would've felt bad to have it cooped up in there the whole trip. I released it at least once a day and pla…"

"All three of you! Put your hands in the air!" Called a harsh male voice suddenly. Lillie whirled around and beheld a gang of six men and women, some with masks, all dressed in all black attire, save a red letter R across the shirt. Jolted out of her socks, Lillie put her hands up as a gut reaction, but then observed that neither her mother nor Blue had done so and put them back at her side.

In fact, Blue didn't even react at all; she was still turned towards Lillie and trying to finish whatever she was writing. When she was done, she looked up and saw Lillie's questioning face. "Criminals are like growlithe," she explained in a low voice. "If you let them smell your fear, they will only become more aggressive." She finally turned to the people in black and, while putting her pokedex away, said, "Can I help you?"

 _Is she crazy?_ Lillie thought, looking around the group, all with very angry and mean-looking faces. _There are six of them, and three of us._ She looked down at Vulpix, who gave her a curious look back. _Vulpix has gotten a lot stronger for sure, but can he take two other trainers at once?_ They had seen other trainers wandering around the route, but Blue said that trainers rarely bothered people traveling as a group.

"Hey, I remember you!" said one of the women. "You were the one who trashed our hideout on Five Island!"

"Yeah, weren't you one of the ones who gave us trouble at Silph Co.?" responded the man who had shouted at them initially, who was situated in the middle of the pack.

 _Oh this just gets better,_ Lillie thought. _They have a history together, which means that they're definitely not letting us off free!_ She looked over at her mother. "What do you think we should do?" she asked.

"We're outnumbered, so we'll have to work together to divide and conquer," Lusamine explained hurriedly. "Lillie, since you're the young one, I'll take on three of them."

"Don't worry, I got this," said Blue, as if Lusamine had just asked her to stop the pizza shop to pick up an order.

"Your overconfidence is going to get us robbed!" said Lusamine, who was now noticeably annoyed.

"I am not overconfident," Blue replied, stepping towards the gang while talking to the other two over her shoulder. "I actually have an appropriate level of confidence."

"Enough chit-chat, let's get her!" shouted one of the men, and suddenly all six of them sent out pokémon; two that looked like raticate but brown, a floating purple one, a grimer that was purple, a zubat and a golbat.

"Stand back!" said Blue, as she flung a poke ball out in front of her. Lillie barely had time to register a flash a pink before she was knocked onto the floor by a huge sonic wave, marked by an ear-splitting "YOOOM-TAAAA!"

Lillie spent the next 30 seconds or so in a daze, before she dizzily registered Blue standing over her and pulling her to her feet. "What did I tell you?" was all that she said.

"You didn't give us a whole lot of reaction time!" Lillie protested, as she regained her balance. She looked around frantically, but didn't see anyone else other than her mother, who had already been pulled up and was dusting her dress off. She didn't even see Blue's pokémon anywhere. Only her own vulpix, who bizarrely didn't seem overly affected, just a bit dizzy. She returned him to his poke ball.

"Who were those people?" Lusamine asked, seeming to have a better idea of what had happened than Lillie did.

"Team Rocket!" said Blue. "Come on, if you're alright let's keep walking." So they set off back towards the gate to Saffron, as if what had just happened was no big deal.

"Once upon a time, their name, and the sight of their signature 'R' commanded the fear of all Kahotoans!" she explained as they walked, in a tone that Lillie thought was uncharacteristically hammy. "As individuals, they were never exactly competent. But they were held together by a great leader, one who was as cunning as he was ruthless; the corrupt gym leader, Giovanni! But he is long gone now, thanks partially to yours truly."

"So now they are as pathetic as Team Skull," Lusamine said, smirking slightly. Lillie had half a mind to tell her that she was one to talk.

Blue frowned. "Who's Team Skull?" she asked.

And it was at that moment that they realized that they were so caught up in what had just happened that they didn't notice a man wearing the strangest attire Lillie had ever seen emerge from the trees.

Luckily, unlike their last visitors, this one was friendly. Blue extended a hand to him and said, "fancy meeting you here, how've you been?"

"Very well," he said, shaking her hand. "I heard some noise here and want to come investigate, is everything alright here?

"Yeah, it's fine," said Blue, still looking kind of cocky. "I just had to chase off some common thugs."

Lillie gazed upon the stranger. He wore long black pants and black shoes under a huge white lab coat, and had some sort of hat, which was just a cyan… something wrapped partially around his blonde head and on either side of his glasses.

"I don't believe I've met your company," the stranger said as he looked around. He turned towards Lillie and Lusamine and struck a pose. "I am a scientist. My name is Colress."

"I am the president of the Aether Foundation," said Lusamine, also shaking Colress's hand. "You may call me Lusamine. She," she said, gesturing at Lillie, "…Is my daughter."

"How do you two know each other?" Lillie asked. The man didn't dress like anyone she had seen in Kanto, and certainly not like anyone from Alola.

"I've done a lot of traveling in my day," Blue explained. "You get to meet a lot of the brightest minds in your field."

"You flatter me," Colress said. "I met this remarkable trainer in my home region of Unova a few years back."

"Are you on vacation, then?" asked Lusamine, her head bowed. "I can't blame you- I'd want to get away from all that craziness, too."

At Lillie's puzzled expression, Blue explained. "If you think that things are weird here in Kanto, you wouldn't believe Unova. They just had an election there, and I don't think anyone's gonna forget it anytime soon."

"It was a fascinating endeavor," Colress responded, as he fiddled with some sort of control panel on his right arm. "It was the underdog foreigner, named Ardos, who came out on top. His words struck the people of Unova like a hammer strikes a sword on an anvil, in a time in which the population grows more and more judgmental of the world around them."

Lillie, apart from having no clue what they were talking about, thought that Colress's manner of speech was quite verbose even by her standards. _Like a hammer strikes a sword on an anvil? What is that supposed to mean?_

"Oh, the guy with the… interesting fashion sense?" Lusamine inquired. "What region is he from again?"

Lillie realized that she was the one that most of this was being explained to, and wondered if her dislike of watching the news had come with a price.

"He hails from Orre," Colress explained. "A land, from what I can tell, is located on the same land mass as Unova, to the west of it. It still has yet to establish a widespread government."

"I think Red has grandparents there," Blue said, shrugging, "but other than that, I don't really know anything about the place. So, what brings you to Kanto of all places?"

Lillie thought privately that it was odd that nobody else seemed to know anything about the place. Admittedly, she didn't know a lot about the region either, only that the history book she was reading stated that it existed in a place once called Arizona.

"I'm not here for long," Colress explained. "I wanted to observe the Magnet Train before heading back to Alola for the Battle Tree challenge."

"We just came from Alola!" said Lillie, who was surprised by the coincidence.

Colress smiled at her. "It truly is a small world."

"The Battle Tree will be a good warm-up for the 2007 World Tournament," Blue commented. "I wish I could head to the tree myself. My husband and our friend are heading for there right now."

"Yes, I plan to see you at the tournament next year," Colress replied. He looked down at the control panel and frowned. "I must be off now, before it gets too late," he said.

"Oh yeah, you don't want to be traveling in the dark," said Blue, somewhat awkwardly. "I'll see you… sometime. Say hello to Red and Green for me!"

So Colress and the trio parted ways, and they started walking again to Saffron City.

"He came all the way here just to see the train?" Lusamine asked once he was out of earshot, shaking her head in disbelief.

Blue shrugged again. "It makes just as much sense as anything else that guy does. I remember him telling me the first time we met that he adored the magnemite line, so maybe he wanted to see them at work?"

"What was with all that weird stuff about the Unova region?" Lillie asked.

Blue bit her lip. "You know how me and some other assorted people aren't really happy about some of the… recent trends in Kanto? Well, some people in Unova really, really aren't happy about them either. And the solutions that have been suggested by some of them are… bad."

Lillie waited for her to elaborate, but she didn't. So it was on that enigmatic note that they entered the mass of tall buildings and crowded streets that was Saffron City.

* * *

"Can I ask you something kinda personal, Lillie?"

The two of them sat on a bench near a statue on display near Silph Co. after their late-lunch early-dinner in downtown Saffron City. The statue, made of what looked like diamond, displayed a teenage boy with long, curly hair, and a casual dress of an overly large button-down shirt and pants, as well as tennis shoes. He had a knowing smirk on his face. The caption on the statue didn't offer much info: it read "The Savior Of Tokyo." Lusamine was still at the restaurant using the restroom.

"Go ahead," replied Lillie.

Blue looked up at the statue. "Why did you decide to become a trainer?"

Lillie had a weird feeling that Blue was being deliberate in asking that question at that exact time.

"Long story short," she explained, "the events of the past few months revealed to me just how vulnerable I am… I never would've gotten here if it weren't for my friends. I never liked watching pokémon fight."

"Well, having great friends like that is wonderful," Blue said, leaning back and now looking straight up at the sky. "But you're saying you haven't exactly gotten a lot of practice in standing up for yourself until recently? I noticed that you were mostly quiet back there with Colress, but you sure looked like you had a lot on your mind."

Lillie looked up at the sky too. She had no idea what Blue was looking at, as there were no clouds; nothing but the setting sun, and the sky becoming a progressively darker blue. _Yep, I was right,_ she thought. _She knows exactly what she's doing by asking this question while my mother is away._

"You could say that," was all that Lillie said.

Blue looked down from the sky and looked at Lillie, giving her a look that Lillie didn't recognize.

"She wasn't always like this," explained Lillie, though she wasn't sure why she was saying this. "Well, she was always strict, but she cared. You don't get to be the leader of a charitable foundation by being a sociopath, right? Things all started to go downhill for us when…" She wasn't sure if she should go on, but did anyway. "When my father died."

There was a silence between the two for a while. Then Blue got to her feet.

"I know well how the loss of a family member can tear a family apart," she said. "I am blessed to not have lost one myself. But shortly after we were born- Red lost his father in the war. Green lost both of his parents- he was raised by his grandfather, Professor Oak."

Lillie didn't say anything in response. There was another silence between them as Lillie looked at the feet of the statue. Blue again looked at the clear sky.

She involuntarily jumped a bit when she saw her mother finally approaching them. Lusamine hadn't heard the previous conversation.

"What's this statue made of?" Lusamine asked, eyeing it with intrigue.

"Diamond, I think," Blue said, without changing her gaze.

Lusamine shook her head. "You can't make statues out of diamond."

"Well, it's made out of something shiny, I don't know what it is," Blue replied. She finally looked down, but her eyes were slightly unfocused. "You guys should try and come see this statue when there's more daylight out sometime; it's pretty marvelous. Anyways, come on, it's not much further to my grandparents' place.

But by the time they arrived, the sun had set, and Lillie was ready to call bullcrap. Her feet were aching as they finally reached the northern end of Saffron City and climbed the new-looking stone steps to…

"The Pokémon Day Care?" Lillie looked upon the humble house, placed in front of a long series of cliffs.

"Yep!" said Blue. "They do their jobs well. But I should warn you," she said, as they neared the door. "They're kind of old-fashioned!"

She knocked on the door, and it was not long at all before it was opened by Blue's grandma, a fussy old lady with gray curls and wide rimmed glasses.

"Come on in, you all!" she said, "Before it gets any darker! Leave your shoes by the door!"

And there were many exchanges of greetings between the four (Blue's grandpa had already gone to bed). However, nobody was really wanting to stay up and chat, so Blue showed Lillie to her room.

"Lucky for you," Blue said as they entered through the doorway, "my grandparents had three kids. So you get a room to yourself today!"

Lillie looked around. It had clearly not been lived in for a while. The books on the shelf were dusty, and few decorations remained from whatever the room might once have looked like. There were only a few trophies sitting on the shelf on the other side of the room, and a big poster above the bed. The poster showed a mysterious blue winged pokémon with a long tail with an octagonal shape as the background. It looked familiar to Lillie…

"Who's that pokémon?" asked Lillie, taking a few steps towards the poster. "It looks familiar from somewhere."

"That is Articuno," Blue said. "They're quite the cultural symbol around here. My father was a huge fan of them… you can imagine how pleased he was when I caught them!"

"You caught that thing?" Lillie asked, amazed. "Is that what you used against the Team Rocket thugs back there?"

"Um… no," Blue said. Lillie looked at her, and was surprised to see that she looked embarrassed about something. "I don't exactly… have Articuno anymore."

"What happened?" asked Lillie, who was thoroughly confused.

"It's kind of a long story. Once upon a time, when I was about to turn eleven, I registered all of the pokémon who were known to live in the Kanto region at the time in my pokedex. All except for three- Articuno, Zapdos, and Moltres." Blue sat down on the bed and looked at the floor as she reminisced. "They are known as legendary pokémon, because only one of each are known to exist, and they are extremely powerful… or so they say, at least. So while Red and Green chased after the Champion honors, I went on a trek to find those three. Long story short, I was successful."

"Wow, that's amazing!" said Lillie, her eyes wide, having a hard time imagining doing something so scary. _She was even my age when she did it,_ she thought, and she had this weird feeling she couldn't shake that she had somehow wasted her life by only starting now.

"Well, I did it for a few different reasons, "she explained, lying backwards and spreading out on the bed. "First, for the sake of science! Second, because I knew it would be a challenge and I craved that. Third, because I had a bad feeling that I hadn't seen the last of Team Rocket. I had this suspicion that, someday, under a new more terrifying leader, they might come back from the shadows and cause serious mayhem…"

Lillie waited for her to start an epic story, but instead Blue shook her head. "Thankfully, my fears were unfounded. Team Rocket had a brief revival in Johto, but they were taken out by a few kids and never did anything more serious than hijack the radio tower." She got up from the bed, her head drooping a little with tiredness. "Nonetheless, Professor Oak was so impressed with my work that he got me into connection with the Pokémon Research Agency. I pretty much spent the next six years of my life traveling and doing work for them."

Lillie was really curious as to how this story eventually led back to the three legendary birds, but let her continue on.

"But let's back up a bit. When I was twelve years old, I made my first trip to the Sinnoh region. There, I met with Professor Rowan and Dawn. This was around the time that hotshot ace trainer named Lucas was trying for the Champion spot in Sinnoh's league. Well, apparently someone must've heard somehow that I had all three legendary birds, and one day, when I was traveling to Eterna City, I woke up in the morning completely tied up in spinarak silk.

"Oh my gosh!" exclaimed Lillie, absolutely shocked that something like that had happened to her.

"Yeah, I was pretty shocked too," said Blue, though she mostly sounded nonchalant. "I witnessed these two men in these crazy all-white uniforms across the field, using these weird devices on the poke balls I caught the three birds in! I rolled off of my sleeping bag and banged my forehead against a random poke ball that they had left out while rummaging through my bag. Out popped my trusty nidoqueen."

"That was kind of clever of you," Lillie remarked.

Blue, however, shook her head. "It would've been cleverer to put one of my pokémon on guard duty. But nonetheless, Nidoqueen released me with a well-placed scratch, and I wasted no time in ordering it to hit the fiends with an earthquake. And while this knocked them out, it also broke the poke balls for all three of the birds!"

"Wouldn't they still recognize you as their trainer?" Lillie inquired, thinking back to a book she read several years back about a wandering band of friends.

"Normally, yes, but something was wrong. They were furious and flew off!" Blue explained, scratching her head. "Maybe it was because they were legendaries, or maybe the strange people did something weird to them that messed them up. Either way, the three were now loose in the Sinnoh region."

"Did you go out and try to re-capture them?" asked Lillie.

"Erm… no," said Blue, who now definitely looked embarrassed. "I was on a tight schedule and had to go attend to… things. So Professor Oak, who was visiting, asked my new buddies Lucas, Dawn and Barry to hunt them down for me!"

"Oh, so they have the birds now?" Lillie asked, but she had a feeling that she was going to be contradicted again based on Blue's expression.

"No. _Someone_ caught them, but we have no idea who." Blue started walking past Lillie to the door, indicating that she was almost at the end of her story. "We had no idea of their whereabouts until two years ago, when Articuno and Moltres were spotted wandering the Kalos region. Don't even _ask_ how they got all the way over there, because I have no idea!"

"Wow, that's pretty crazy," Lillie remarked. "That went all sorts of directions I didn't expect."

"Yeah, it's a pretty fun story to tell," Blue said, as she opened the door to the hallway. "If a pretty embarrassing one. Anyways, I'm ready to drop dead, I'm going to bed. Let me or grandma know if you need anything at all."

"Sounds good," remarked Lillie, who was looking forward to resting her aching legs.

Blue left for her room, and Lillie shut the door and walked over to the bed. Fittingly, the sheets were a sort of muted light blue. As she tucked herself in, she pondered recent events.

She thought of her mother, defeating that sailor on the ship before Lillie had realized that they began the battle. Then she remembered the time in Ultra Space when Sun took down Lusamine and her super-powered pokémon. Then the very next day, when Moon utterly destroyed Sun in a just-for-fun match they had in preparation for beginning their journey to the new league. And finally, just that day, when Blue somehow took out six criminals and their pokémon as if it was nothing.

 _What have I gotten myself into?_ She thought. It seemed as if no matter how good you got, there was always a better trainer out there who could make you look like yesterday's leftovers.


End file.
